Four people are playing bridge, and in the course of the game their host, who has been sitting out, is murdered.

Any of the four, given the right circumstances, might have committed the crime, for each of them is known to have committed at any rate one murder and is quite capable of committing another.

Agatha does it again!
Agatha Christie is one woman!

She is pure genius!

Agatha’s books are never fast paced but they are such a breeze to read. I have read 15+ Hercule Poirot novels and I can gratefully say that I have enjoyed them all. The same is the case with Cards on the Table.

With this book, again we have the same closed room mystery, this time around with one murder and four suspects. All the four suspects have motive to murder because the victim believed that they have committed the act of murder in their past too and got away with it. With no clues to back up, Poirot has to dive into the past of each suspect to find out whodunit. This is the first time I came close to solve the case, only to be misled and making a fool of myself. Also, this time not only we had the pleasure of having Poirot solve the case but three more characters helping get hold of the killer. It was a nice change. Never for a moment did the book feel dull. But that’s the case with any Agatha novels. All in all, I loved every page of this book and would highly recommend it.

Final Verdict:

Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie gets 5 out of 5 stars from me.

Another point I would like to add, which may not affect the review much is my new found understanding of Agatha. In the novel, the victim is referred to as Mr.Shaitana. Now, Shaitana is a Indian name meaning demon. It is said in the novel that Shaitana displayed Mephistophelian traits. Now the term Mephistophelian means wicked, fiendish and comes from the German folklore where Mephistopheles was the name of a demon. This revelation made a major impact on me. It told me that Agatha is intelligent and witty and well-versed and that she deserves to be called the Queen of Crime. I’ll always love and admire her.

About the author:

Born in Torquay in 1890, Agatha Christie became, and remains, the best-selling novelist of all time.

She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, as well as the world’s longest-running play – The Mousetrap. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation.